Promised Land - Renate

4.12.08

I must apologize for the delay in posting, but due to my own fault, my computer failed and I had to find another one to post this one.

The exhibition ‘Artists in Paradise’, which took place at the Gold coast Council Chambers, displayed works of twelve artists of multicultural background; of which I was one. We represented a cross section of people from countries as different as Israel and Iran, and Europe and China, who made Australia their home.

Opening night, Friday the 7th of November, which brought many people together, turned out to be a lively cultural event where everyone felt at home.

Even though the subject was Australian landscape, the work displayed varied greatly from one another. It did, to a large extend, depict the artist’s background understanding, feeling and visual interpretation, not only as an individual, which all artistic work do, but also according to his/hers place of origin.

By 10.30 Monday morning, after the exhibition reopened at 9am (being close for the weekend) one of my six paintings displayed was missing. With this experience, I had, and still have, some mixed feeling. On the one hand, I lost a painting. On the other, someone might have loved it to such extend, that its disappearance should make me proud.

Be it as it may, the painting is still missing; AND as each painting I paint it a part of me; a part of my soul, it is upsetting.

Wanting it back, I contacted our local Newspaper, ‘The Gold Coast Bulletin'. Within a couple of days, the paper posted a story, with my photo and a photo of the missing painting, asking for its return.

I was overwhelmed by the swift action and by the wonderful attention I got from the Journalist Andrew and Glenn, the photographer, and thanking them I must.

I must also thank the Bulletin, and the lady that took my call, whose name I don’t know, for their help.

27.10.08

Since my last post, I was busy painting, preparing for an exhibition I am to take part in, and thus the delay.

In preparation for the catalogue, I was asked to introduce and tell something about myself, to be printed in it. This I thought was unnecessary, as my painting will do that for me. Instead, I opted to say something about painting; about my feeling and the point of view I have on the subject.

Having done that, lead me thinking of the other disciplines I am involved in; mainly poetry and writing, and I came to the conclusion that the three are in reality, my reality, the same thing. They all convey the soul of their creator, each in its own unique form.

How come you may ask?
Well, what ever you do has your signature. Your signature is not the name you write below, but what underlines your creation. The way you see things; whether in words or in colour; the way you express them; the way you view and approach that which you encounter or that which consumes you. This is the reason, why you can say, all these were created by one person or another.

So what is then, the difference between those various disciplines?
The difference is the mode used. When I write a book, I use more characters; have a plot that runs into details. I move through time and events my characters are involved in. I elaborate and extend description and may add some dialogue, or a poem or two to give more personality those characters.

In poetry, I express that which I see, feel or understand, in the shortest and most precise manner, and in rhythm. It is a song in words.

In both forms about, I use words in different ways. In painting I do that visually; in various colour combination that not only interpret what I see, but also show the mood of the subject, or my own, at the time of painting. These apply not only to conventional painting, but to abstract ones as well; and it may be that in the abstract, they play even a more prominent place.

Taking the three forms of expression together, I convey what is within me by utilizing and tantalizing different senses.

27.9.08

You may have realized by now that I am an extravert, but at the same time, I am shy of accolades. This makes little sense. So how come? Thinking about it I came to the conclusion that it is the result of my upbringing.

My parents, and the society I grew up in, believed that a person should do his/her best and not seek hooray, fame or special acknowledgment. The reward, this premise advocates, lies in the satisfaction of a job well done.

I am telling you that because it took me a long while, and much internal debate, to decide and write about an event that happened to me on the 15th of August of this year.

Few months ago I was approached by the multicultural arm of our City Council if I wanted to participate in, and be interviewed for an event related to local writers of international background.

Realizing at long last, the need to give exposure to my book, I talked myself into it and agreed.

Time passed and nothing happened, so I forgot all about it. Then, out if the blue, I was interviewed twice. Some more weeks passed in complete silence, and a professional photographer came and took some photos of me for the production of a small book related to the above; and the 15th of August of this year was set for its launching.

At 6pm on the day, Gerry and I and several of our friends arrived at the Council Chambers of the City of the Gold coast to be warmly greeted at the door.
There were clusters of couches set around coffee tables throughout the hall and an enlarge photo of each participant in the book, hung on the wall.
Pinned to each photo was a copy of the book, opened at the appropriate photo page that was followed by a five pages article about the depicted person.
Here I was luckier than others, as the photo on the wall differed from that in the booklet, which I posted here for you to see.

Taken by AA Xpose media

As I looked through the book, I realized it has nothing to do with writers, but with people the multicultural arm of our City Council decided worthy of note; and who were depicted in the book as “Exceptional yet ordinary people”. This surprised me greatly. I felt honoured, yet somewhat uncomfortable.

Getting back my balance, I surveyed what is going around. I saw at the far corner people congregate around a table full of titbits and drinks; and circulating waiters moving between festively dressed guests; all talking, meeting new and old friends in a relaxed atmosphere.

A single short official speech opened the event, and every so often, interspersed between food, drinks and friendly chitchat, each of the eleven involved was asked, in random, to address the visitors. This kept the evening informal friendly and very sociable and it was great.

As each of us spoke, the diversity of the group came to light. Each came from another country and another culture; From the Maori of New Zealand to Iran, to Israel, Europe and so on – displaying a successful melting pot of people who integrated into the Australian cultural scene that now call Australia home.
It was an evening to remember, and I thank the organizers of this wonderful event.

Renate
Artist, poet & the Author of
From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country

31.8.08

In this last post about marriage I’d like to pay tribute to my husband, my love and my life long friend, Gerry, by posting the poem I wrote in Hebrew and in English, for our 39th wedding anniversary.

Before I get to the poem itself, I would like to tell you how I went about presenting it to him; for he happened to in Europe and I in Australia on this particular day.
So let’s go back in time:

Here I am buying a card with 3 red roses painted on a white background. I print the poem out in both languages; and mail it all to Europe.
Having done that, I phone Gerry,
I sent you a letter, I say, don’t open it till I asked you to, and leave it next to the phone.
I know very well that he will do as I asked, and he does.

On the day, which happens to be a Sunday, and ready with a beautiful love song on a tape recorder, I phone. I hear Gerry lift the receiver, and with not a word I start the music.
Gerry listens for a minute, and hangs up.
I phone again,
He answers again, and the receiver goes down again.
This is getting too difficult. He will never stay on the phone for long enough to find out what it’s all about!
I phone again.
He lifts the receiver again.
I say – listen and don’t lower the receiver; now, open the envelope, take the two pages out and follow my reading.
The music is playing and I intersperse it with the poem in the appropriate point of reference, in the two languages, as rehearsed.
He follows my reading.
I have finished reading – there is silence on the other end; a long protracted and meaningful silence. Then I hear him say,
I could never give you a wonderful present like this one…
I am happy and relieved. All went well.

7.8.08

It took me a long time to gather and organise my thoughts on this particular subject, for it is the most important element in a successful marriage; and the most difficult to writing about.It is the one that underlines everything within it; and is the glue that keeps it together.

Unfortunately the word ‘Love’ has been over-used and abused and does no longer express that which I think it should.It has become a substitute for words like sex; lust and desire, and is used as a form of greeting etc.

Love it self, takes many forms: There is the love of a parent for example, which is very different to the love between a couple; and a couple’s love does change with time and circumstances.So what do I see as love in marriage?

First and foremost, I see marriage, in our western society, as the natural progress of a love relationship that started with a strong attraction two people had, and still have, to one another. A step up if you will. A step of what the Chinese call – ‘becoming whole with the other’; or a step where ‘one has found one’s soul-mate’,

If I dissect and look at love from a detached angle – I can see it as being a very selfish act.You love one, because he/she makes you feel good, makes you feel wanted, makes you feel worthy and so on. You love one to satisfy your need to lavish another with all the goodness of your heart; emotionally, physically and materially, which in turn makes you feel well about yourself.

It is true that some loves aren’t being reciprocated. This is very sad indeed, and has no place in marriage.

You get married because you think your other half will give you all of the above and more.This, however, applys to that other half as well, and here, some of the compromise and adjustments I spoke of before, come in.

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Being possessed by love, full of admiration adoration, and passion, you get married, and love turns a corner. Now you want to build a nest where love can flourish. This corner is the first of many, where everyone that follows brings new and exciting experiences, regardless if good or bad; for you grow together with each. Here the operative word is – together.If you do not do it together, you grow apart.

Before we got married, Gerry wanted to wait till he will be well established; to look after me in a manner I was not accustomed to. For me, this was an odd notion. I felt strongly that I do not want someone to ‘look after me’. I wanted the right to achieve and enjoy the process. Thus, we did not wait, did everything together, and it turned out to be the right decision.

As we go through the various stages of life and mature, love adjusts and matures as well. It becomes, to a very great extent, a deep friendship of mutual understanding, admiration, reliance and trust.

This process, however, depends on the individuals involved; because one can fall in love and one can fall out of love according to the way he/she synchronizes its thought processes.You can see the good and the best in your beloved, or you can look, and for sure find, that which you don’t like or which irritates you, and what you eventually hate.

Through out our 54 years of marriage we never thought of not loving each other.We never looked outside the square of our marriage.We always worked together for our mutual progress within that marriage.

We always trusted each other implicitly, and I do mean implicitly;

Marriage is a contract.If you don’t want to keep it, don’t get into it.

With us, the door was and is always open; neither of us needs to stay.We got into this contract because we wanted to. Because we loved each other and still do. And as I said before – without love – there is no marriage.

During all the years, we constantly found and still find things we want to do and achieve.We rarely, if ever, sit idle waiting for life to pass us by.We talk a lot on different subjects we encounter, share, learn and experience new things and new developments; and stay alert to that which is around us.

We dance with passion and socialize, and at the same time give room to each other according to each needs and wants.AND most importantly – we do laugh at ourselves. We can see the funny side of us and of each of us; and often, it is very healing.

We hug, kiss and laugh and always touch or stroke each other when we pass by, bar for when we are mad at each other, which does come up here and there in any relationship; and are not shy of asking very personal question and sharing very personal thoughts.This does not mean that we do not criticise each other as well – we do.

Yes another thing I just remember, from time to time, spontaneously and out of the blue, we tell each other in various forms that we love them.

All of the above comes naturally to us and it reaffirms that which we got married for in the first place.

We live in a disposable world, but love is not a disposable commodity.It is too emotional, precious and dainty to be discarded or done away with, without deep and long lasting hurtful consequences to all involved.

Renate
Artist, poet & the Author of
From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country

16.7.08

Having looked more into the beginning of writing, I found that in large, the basic knowledge of the roots of writing, have not changed.This was till I saw a documentary about a place named Aratta, which is being unearthed by archaeologists in the high mountains of today’s north Iran - south east to what was Sumer in Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq).

For generations Aratta was thought of as only a myth, an epic Mesopotamian tale. Today Aratta has become a reality; where excavations reveal a very healthy and rich kingdom that apparently had an alphabetic writing system already in 2500BC!

As this new information is still in its infancy, I will return to the common data, which is very fascinating indeed.So here we go -

Pictorial writing, which the Chinese and Japanese still use, is very difficult to learn and use.
The old Coniform and hieroglyphics were even more difficult to handle, as their transportation from place to place was too cumbersome; for recording movements of goods, commerce; and contracts among nations. The need to simplify brought about the alphabetical system, where few letters can be used in different combinations, to mean different words, and are easily learnt, used and transported.

The alphabetical system started in Canaan (more or less today’s Israel, Lebanon & the Sinai), by the Semitic people who lived there. Tradition puts the Phoenician as the first to start this system, followed by the Hebrews. Both were part of Canaan and both languages were very similar.

As everything else, the alphabetical system went through trial and errors till it settled with 22 letters.These were, in the progress of time, changed, added to or replaced, to accommodate for the sounds the various tongues have.

At the beginning all letters followed one another.There were no spaces between the words, or any identifying marks for the beginning or end of sentences.This makes a lot of sense in my opinion as it followed the manner of speech. If you pay attention to the way we speak, you will find that we do speak in a running fashion.

When writing began, it was written to all direction: right to left; left to right; up and down and even at one stage; back and forth with the eye movement. Even though it shortened the time needed for the eyes to return to the beginning of the line to start reading the next, it was probably dropped because of the need to learn writing in both directions.
At the end it has settled to be written and read from right to left. Surprise?
You should be. We do take our way of writing for granted, don’t we?

The truth of the matter is that all alphabetical writing, in whatever form and shape developed from this one corner of the world, and Semitic writing was already found in Egypt next to Egyptian Hieroglyphics, dated to around 1900BC.

By what I understand, the pictorial Hieroglyphic as well as Cuneiform were the base point from where the alphabetical system started. It took the schematic drawing of an object, simplified it and used it as a symbol of the first sound of the displayed object’s name. For example, and just to clarify,
Take the word ‘Door’. Draw a schematic door. Name it – D.Now you have a letter that depicts the ‘D’ sound.Now, you can place it anywhere where the written word needs that sound – Drive, said, riddle and so on… Ingenious, isn’t it?

Following the same line of reasoning, the written words had no vowels or any other means of identifying that vowels give.In reality one can read words without vowels, as readers of Hebrew and Arabic, as well as some users of emails and SMS will attest.

The vowels are a Greek invention.They developed through changing the use of some existing letters and by addition of some new ones.The Greeks were also those who changed the direction of writing to go from left to right.

As I wrote before, all alphabetical forms of writing developed from the Semitic writing; be it the Latin, which we use, the Greek, or the Russian forms of writings, and even the various Asiatic ones.

Like everything else, writing had to develop, and evolve, to meet the changes in society and specific needs of every tongue. It also had to change; according to the logic of each group of people, Looking at those changes one can hardly believe that all alphabetical systems have come from the one same root.
Today, Hebrew and Arabic are still written and read from right to left. So when I write or read Hebrew, I go from right to left and reverse the order when in English, \

19.6.08

Israel, with a population of around 7 millions, and only 20,770 sq km of land, is one of the 100 smallest countries in the world. (Even smaller than New Jersey).

Even though so small, Israel contributes in a large way to the betterment of our daily life.

On the right side of this blog there is a column about Israel achievement, which I have posted about a year ago. Since then, Israel has achieved many other things of which I have no record. However, I was lucky to get a list of her achievement during the month of January of this year alone, and thought you may like to read it as well.So here it is:

1. Scientists in Israel, found that the brackish water, drilled from underground desert aquifers,hundreds of feet deep, could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98° on average, proves an ideal environment.

2. Israeli-developed designer-eyeglasses, promise mobile phone and iPod users, a personalized, high-tech video display.
Available to US consumers next year, Lumus-Optical's lightweight and fashionable video eyeglasses, feature a large transparent screen, floating in front of the viewer's face that projects their choice of movie, TV show, or video Game.

3. When Stephen Hawkins visited Israel recently, he shared his wisdom with scientists, students, and even the Prime Minister.
But the world's most renown victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, also learned something, due to the Israeli Association for ALS' advanced work in both embryonic and adult stem cell research, as well as its proven track record with neurodegenerative diseases, the Israeli research community is well on its way, to finding a treatment for this fatal disease, which affects 30,000 Americans.

4. Israeli start-up, Veterix, has developed an innovative new electronic capsule that sits in the stomach of a cow, sheep, or goat, sending out real-time information on the health of the herd, to the farmer via Email or cell phone. The e-capsule, which also sends out alerts if animals are distressed, injured, or lost, is now being tested on a herd of cows, in the hopes that the device will lead to tastier and healthier meat and milk supplies. <<>

5. The millions of Skype users worldwide will soon have access to the newly developed KishKish lie-detector. This free internet service, based on voice stress analysis (a technique, commonly used in criminal investigations), will be able to measure just how truthful that person on the other end of the line, really is.

6. Beating cardiac tissue has been created in a lab from human embryonic stem cells by researchers at the Rappaport Medical Faculty and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's biomedical Engineering faculty. The work of Dr. Shulamit Levenberg and Prof. Lior Gepstein, has also led to the creation of tiny blood vessels within the tissue, making possible its implantation in a human heart.

7. Israel's Magal Security Systems, is a worldwide leader in computerized security systems, with products used in more than 70 countries around the world, protecting anything from national borders, to nuclear facilities, refineries, and airpo rts. The company's latest Product, DreamBox, a state-of-the-art security system that includes Intelligent video, audio and sensor management, is now being used by a major water authority on the US east coast to safeguard the utility's sites.

8. It is common knowledge that dogs have better night vision than humans and a vastly superior sense of smell and hearing. Israel's Bio-Sense Technologies, recently delved further,and electronically analyzed 350 different barks. Finding that dogs of all breeds and sizes, bark the same alarm when they sense a threat, the firm has designed the dog bark-reader, a sensor that can pick up a dog's alarm bark, and alert the human operators. This is just one of a batch of innovative security systems to emerge from Israel, which Forbes calls 'the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies.'

9. Israeli company, BioControl Medical, sold its first electrical stimulator to treat urinary incontinence to a US company for $50 Million. Now, it is working on CardioFit, which uses electrical nerve stimulation to treat congestive heart failure. With nearly five million
Americans presently affected by heart failure, and more than 400,000 new cases diagnosed yearly, the CardioFit is already generating a great deal of excitement as the first device with the potential to halt this deadly disease.

10. One year after Norway's Socialist Left Party launched its boycott Israel campaign, the importing of Israeli goods has increased by 15%, the strongest increase in many years, Statistics Norway
reports.

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About Me

My parents left Germany in 1933 when I was 2. I grew up in the than Palestine, in the countryside, in Tel-Aviv during WWII, and in a kibbutz high school.
Like others of my generation, I lived in a world that aspired to create a Jewish state within the borders of old Israel; and thus, I was a member of a youth movement and of the Jewish youth underground.
During Israel's War of independence I was responsible for my brigade's medical supplies, served on ambulances, and in the field hospital of the Negev front. After the war I was stationed in a demilitarised Border post at the foot of the Golan Heights.
In 1953, graduating a military nursing school, I got married, and worked with immigrants from Bagdad.
Due to economic necessity my husband and I immigrated to Australia in 1956, where we opened our own small hospital.
After studying in the USA in the 1960's we opened a chiropractic clinic in WA where I worked as a Clinics' administrator and a chiropractic radiologist.
I learnt to fly and took part in building a 64ft boat.
Nowadays, I write, paint & use the computer. I like walking, swimming & canoeing.

Israel"s achievements

Having to be on alert at all times and in fighting mode, did not and does not stop the Israelis from living a ‘Normal life’ and achieving great things.The land that was desert and swamps full of illnesses like Malaria & Trachoma and more is today a modern green place, full of trees and flowers.Not only that but it is also a power place to many new inventions that benefit mankind every day.I am attaching a list I received sometime ago, which is NOT complete, to show you some of Israel’s achievements.

Here it is:

Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay additional claim to the following:

The cell phone and Voice mail technology was developed in Israel & AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

The Pentium MMX Chip technology, Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.

The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.

Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel & Motorola has Motorola Israel.

Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita, as well as the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world & produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people - as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.

Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. US officials now look (finally) to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats, and has the fourth largest Air Force in the world (after the U.S., Russia and China).

In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in theworld, except the U.S. (3,500 – 4000 companies mostly in hi-tech).

With more than 4,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world - apart from the Silicon Valley, U. S.

Outside the United States and Canada, it has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.It is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S.

Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East.The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.

Her $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbours combined.

Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.

Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.

Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity (Hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union).

In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at risk in Ethiopia, to safety inIsrael.

When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.

When the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day - and saved three victims from the rubble.

Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

It has more museums per capita than any other country, and has the world's second highest per capita of new books.

Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as"conflict free."

It is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.

In Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U.S. hospitals, 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.

Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the camera, helps doctors diagnose heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well.

Israel produced 4 Nobel price winners in the last 4 years – 2 in Mathematics & 2 in Economics.

An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave Desert.

All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other county on earth.